One In Ten PCTs Fail To Follow PEC Guidance

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 22 Nov 2007 - 3:00 PDT

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Contrary to Department of Health guidance, clinical leaders are being excluded from strategic decision making in one in ten PCTs, delegates to the first National PEC Chair conference heard last day.

And one in five PCTs still do not have their Professional Executive Committee (PEC) fully in place, a month after the final deadline and nine months after the guidance was published.

These were among the findings of a survey carried out by the NHS Alliance over the past month for the conference, hosted jointly by the NHS Alliance, the Department of Health and NHS Networks. It was attended by 140 of the 150 PEC chairs in England. The survey also found that:

- In 23% of PCTs, PECs have no real involvement in commissioning, and in one in four PCTs, PEC members do not have specific lead roles, both contrary to guidance;

- Nearly two thirds of PEC chairs say there are poor links with their Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs);

- Only 63% of PCTs provide pensionable pay to their PEC members - and one in ten limit pension payments to GPs only

- Four in ten PCTs are not providing access to training for their PEC members.

Dr Peter Reader, NHS Alliance national lead for clinical leadership, said:

"There is a massive variation across the country in how PCTs and SHAs are approaching clinical leadership. Some - such as the East of England and North West SHA areas - are providing excellent imaginative leadership.

"But we are still too often seeing managerial/clinical tribalism along with worrying indications that clinical leaders are being sidelined, under-valued and undermined.

"The best should show the rest how it should be done. Fast."

Notes:

1. The NHS Alliance is a collaboration of professionals who put patients first. Values based, it is the only organisation that brings together PCTs with practices, clinicians with managers and Board members - and NHS primary care with its patients. The Alliance membership and its hard working national executive is fully multi-professional. Its PEC chair network is one of 14 professional networks that also include the PBC Federation, CETNET (the Chief Executives' Transformation Network) and many others.

2. The First National PEC Chairs conference is to be held at the Manchester Central Convention Complex (formerly the GMex Centre). Speakers include NHS Alliance chairman Dr Michael Dixon; Mark Britnell, Director General for Commissioning and System Management, Department of Health and Dr David Colin-Thomé, Clinical Director of Primary Care, Department of Health.

http://www.nhsalliance.org

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